There is energy and promise in public higher education, Dr. Daniel Greenstein mentioned.
Greenstein, chancellor of the Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education, spoke Thursday throughout an interactive discussion board on higher education at Kutztown University.
“I’m here to hear from you,” he mentioned. “But I’ve been thinking about and writing about public higher education, the power and promise of public education, so I want to start there.”
Proof of that energy and promise is discovered at KU, he mentioned, the place college students from all walks of life can pursue an inexpensive, high quality education that may result in jobs by which they’ll have the ability to maintain themselves and their households.
“You show that it can be done,” he mentioned.
The college has demonstrated super success in rising, he mentioned, noting total undergraduate enrollment is up about 9% and first-time freshmen enrollment is up about 7%.
Total enrollment over the previous 18 to 19 years elevated by about 42%, he mentioned, with variety seen in about 29% of the coed inhabitants and the retention charge at an all-time excessive.
“You’re not changing lives,” Greenstein mentioned, “you’re actually saving them. And you demonstrate the power and promise of public higher education.”
Advocacy for the funding over the past 4 years has been pushed by success tales, equivalent to KU’s, he mentioned.
Although it’s clear the Legislature doesn’t converse with one voice, Greenstein mentioned, there may be prevailing perception within the energy of public higher education and a real curiosity in investing in a public higher education system.
But there is also actual concern over the continued improve in pupil tuition, which has risen 5.5% a yr from 2010 to 2018, at state universities, he mentioned.
Greenstein mentioned he made a deliberate choice to handle these challenges by redesigning the higher education system to future-proof it and guarantee it continues to pursue the historic mission of offering high quality education for all.
To try this, he mentioned, there have to be extra funding in state schools and universities from the state.
The pathway to that funding, he mentioned, is to rebuild the arrogance of the final meeting.
“We made tremendous progress,” he mentioned. “We didn’t just flatten the curve of the net price of attendance, we bent it down.”
There continues to be extra work to, he mentioned, and the journey forward could also be much more tough than the one behind, however it’s important.
About 60% of all jobs within the state now require a higher diploma of education, which solely 51% of Pennsylvanians have, he mentioned.
“How do we fill that gap?” he requested, “With whom?”
Knowing the bottom of conventional college students is shrinking, he mentioned, the ability and promise of public higher education should broaden to succeed in those that have been underserved previously, whether or not they’re adults, low-income college students from under-resourced communities or rural college students.
After a question-and-answer session with attendees, Greenstein participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the newly renovated DeLight E. Breidegam Building, headquarters of the college’s Pennsylvania German Cultural and Heritage Center.
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